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Royals add experience to the 2013 mix

New Royals starters James Shields and Wade Davis believe their winning experience with the Rays will benefit the Royals in 2013

By Dick Kaegel
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MLB.com |

CHICAGO -- The Royals added six players who have played in the postseason to their 2013 roster.

The only other such player on the roster previously was right fielder Jeff Francoeur, with postseason teams at Atlanta and Texas. Shortstop Alcides Escobar was on a postseason roster with Milwaukee but did not play.

The Royals added pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis and infielder-outfielder Elliot Johnson from Tampa Bay postseason teams in their big trade. They also dealt for pitcher Ervin Santana, a playoff vet with the Los Angeles Angels, and signed infielder Miguel Tejada (Oakland) and catcher George Kottaras (Milwaukee and Oakland).

Tejada, Francoeur, Santana and Shields have the most postseason exposure.

Manager Ned Yost sees having players with meaningful October games on their resume as a big plus.

"It's very, very important. We have such a good young core group of players. This year we focused on getting not only guys that are talented but have winning experience and leadership abilities," he said.

Even veteran players without playoff experience can have a positive effect.

"If you noticed last year, even though he came from a new team and was still kind of feeling his way around, Jeremy Guthrie changed the whole complexion of our starting staff. We were really struggling until he got on a roll," Yost said.

"Now with Shields, Wade Davis, Santana, Elliot, Miguel Tejada -- they've got everything they need inside that locker room to go with [Francoeur], [Luke Hochevar] and Alex Gordon. The leadership that we have in our locker room now is phenomenal. You need quality leadership to keep everybody grounded. You need it when you're going good and you especially need it when you're not going good. The manager does it but the less you have to do, the better off it's going to be for everybody involved. That's where having veteran leadership in the locker room is so valuable."

Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.